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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 17, 2005 Ashland to Zimbabwe through Watercolors By Cindy Blankenship For the Tidings Back in the 50s, when local watercolorist Jerry Whitsett was painting in high school art classes, he received an honor that must have been pretty heady stuff for a young painter - for any painter. Two of his paintings were hung at Carnegie Hall. "After high school, I didn't paint for 50 years," says Whitsett. A Grants Pass native, Whitsett went straight from high school into the Navy to pay for college where he earned a degree in geology. After working for more years than he liked in Texas, he returned to Oregon in 1965, this time to Ashland. Not finding geology work, he became a stock broker. He spent the next 30 some years working, and raising two children with wife Joan. Now retired and a grandfather, Whitsett has been painting seriously for nine years, is a member of the Art and Soul Gallery, the Oregon Watercolor Society, and in 2004 participated in the by-invitation-only Medford show, "Art in Bloom." He emphasizes that his paintings are not photo-realistic (although they are fairly realistic), that he enjoys using his imagination and wants the viewer to use his also to fill in the blanks. While his local landscapes, especially of Lithia Park, outsell all others, several of his watercolors developed from scenes that captured his imagination while traveling with his wife. The current count: "about 35 countries." Whitsett's favorite painting emerged from Bulgaria. While traveling there, an old white building and yellow-leafed tree caught his eye. He photographed the scene, then sketched it, adding a woman in a long skirt walking down the road. "Women like this one are everywhere in Bulgaria smiling and waving. This is what I remember most about Bulgaria, so it's very rewarding to be able add her to my painting � It's my picture, so I can do it," he says, expressing sympathy for the Bulgarian women working, stooped over in the fields, while the men hang out in the pastures herding the sheep and goats. While he sometimes paints on location, he prefers photographing and sketching the scene, noting the contrast, shadows, colors as he feels led to paint them, and then having the time luxury to paint in his studio. Using 100-percent acid-free, rag paper, Whitsett lets the paper provide any white needed in the painting. Using a stick-like tool, he applies a substance similar to rubber cement. Once he's painted the rest of his picture and it's dried, he peels this off. His prints are created with a Giclee printer. Bringing out photographs of hundreds of paintings, Whitsett says, "I paint everything. Some can paint only one thing, but I would get bored." The watercolors are inspired by a wide spectrum of subjects: The barn at Weisenger's Vineyard and Winery, Costa Rican birds (he's a member of the Audubon Society), Black Rhinos in Zimbabwe (one of the tours he and his wife took with Earthwatch), capuchin monkeys in Venezuela's rainforest, the Ashland Plaza, and of course Lithia Park, to name a few. Whitsett who seems to be as passionate about nature as he is about colors and contrast and shadows, hearing the sounds of water or the leaves rustling in a breeze as he paints. "The joy is in the creating. And there's nothing more rewarding then someone buying a painting - because they like it. I enjoy it and I want other people to enjoy it too." Jerry Whitsett's watercolors can be viewed at the Art and Soul Gallery, 247 E. Main St. In April, his work along with Joan Whitsett's will be shown in the Upper Room Coffee House, Ashland Christian Fellowship, 50 W. Hershey St. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams